


I Know Places

by EdibleNonsense



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, MANY OF THEM......
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdibleNonsense/pseuds/EdibleNonsense
Summary: A collection of short fics! They all involve Tien and Launch, either platonically or romantically. AU universes and prompts.





	1. Wedding AU

**Author's Note:**

> All the characters are just normal people without powers. Launch is just her blonde personality and Tien doesn’t have three eyes.  
> PROMPT: “We both came to this wedding without a date so the bride and groom sat us next to each other.”
> 
> EDIT: I also have changed the name from "why does no one write tien and launch stories" because i just wanted a real title LOL

“Table eight, table eight…” Launch grumbled to herself, flipping the gold-laminated card over while weaving through the humid and overcrowded wooden-paneled floor. She had barely shown up in time for the ceremony, and now finding her dinner table with this mysterious person that Bulma had promised would be “totally fun to talk to” was getting more irritating by the minute. How many people had this chick even invited? She knew her friend had a lot of relatives and work associates, but this was… insane. Between the elderly ladies crying their eyes out and stopping to yell greetings to some obscure family member every ten feet and the groups of well-dressed (even for a genius millionaire or whatever’s wedding) men and women standing idly around laughing about who knows what, it was impossible to find a space to breath. The only option was to keep moving, just so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowds. 

Finally making her way to the tables in the single digits, she stopped to take another look around. Every table seemed to be… full. Great. She couldn’t find a single chair that wasn’t draped in a coat or purse or otherwise place-saving item. Where the hell was she supposed to sit? Would Bulma have really accidently told her the wrong table? 

“Nah…” Launch said to no one but herself. That didn’t seem like her friend. If anything, Bulma was  _ over _ prepared for this wedding. It wasn’t like Vegeta was a social butterfly, you know? This mysterious person she was sitting next to wasn’t even one of Bulma’s friends or colleagues, it was just someone that Goku and Yamcha knew. Vegeta had had some... difficulty finding enough groomsmen to numerically match Bulma’s bridesmaids, so those two had to step in and find someone who wouldn’t mind wasting a Saturday at a random person’s wedding. She just couldn't wait to meet this guy. 

Scanning the room one last time before she decided to just find a random table to put her coat at, she finally saw what she was looking for. A table with a gold and white place-card with the number “8” embossed on it. Finally! 

The left half of the table was obscured by the giant pillar which was meant to look all fancy and Roman, but it made it hard to tell who exactly was sitting there. She saw a few coats and one empty chair. Walking around the side of the pillar, she finally saw who she was looking for. He looked about her age, tall, bald. That must be who Bulma was talking about! He wasn’t even looking up at her, just staring blankly at the pamphlet that had been handed out before the ceremony. 

Shrugging to herself, she walked right up to the empty seat besides him and gave a cursory wave. 

“Hey, nice to meet ya.” 

He looked up as if he were startled. 

“Oh, hello. Sorry, I was just reading this.”

Throwing her coat on the backside of the chair, she nodded. 

“ _ He looks like he’s half-asleep _ ,” she thought. “ _ Hmm. Oh well. Might as well check out the open bar. _ ” She began to turn away in search of the food and free drinks when his voice stopped her. 

“Are you Bulma’s friend?” He definitely seemed like he was more awake and aware of his surroundings now. He must have really been spacing out hard before she walked up. 

“Oh, yeah. My name’s Launch.” 

“Nice to meet you, Launch. I’m Tien.” He quickly stood up, without even bothering to smooth out his suit, and held out his hand to be shook. 

Trying hard to suppress a smile (What year was it? Did people still shake hands when they met anymore?), she reached out and shook it back as hard as she could. He must have not have been expecting that, because his eyes went wide for a split second and then quickly relaxed back into their stolid expression almost immediately. Maybe she was seeing things? 

“Are you heading off somewhere?” He stayed standing.

“Yeah, just going to get some food and a drink. I mean, it’s all free, so might as well!”

“Ahh, true.” 

Sensing that he wasn’t one to talk more than he needed to, she started to turn away again. But the way he was standing made her pause. He was looking pointedly down at the table and not meeting her eyeline, almost like he was giving her a polite excuse to leave. Thinking back to what Bulma had told her, she suddenly realized… he didn’t know anyone at this wedding. Well, besides Goku and Yamcha, but they had both wandered off somewhere long ago and were probably more concerned with enjoying the dinner than babysitting someone. And he didn’t seem like a bad guy! A little quiet, but… not unlikable. Definitely not unlikable. 

“You want to come with?” 

His head turned towards her, and his eyes conveyed a kind of thankfulness that made her happy she had asked. “I would like that.”

They weaved around the tables, trying to find some kind of indication that they were at least getting close to the food and drink area. So far, the only thing in sight was a steady stream of people coming from the main doors from the outside, giving quick hugs and waves to people all around. Between the scent of perfume and wood from the surroundings, the place felt far warmer than the January temperatures would suggest. Man, Bulma really was determined to make this an event, huh? Launch could appreciate that, because her friend knew how to throw a mean party and this was no exception!

“So many people,” she heard Tien mutter behind her. 

Half-yelling over her shoulder, she said, “Yeah, it’s crazy in here!” 

“Yeah!”

Racking her brain for something else to say to keep the conversation (as short as it was going), she questioned, “So, didya bring a date for tonight?”

Damn. Why had that come out of her mouth? Was it the wedding element that made her think of that? Either way, the answer was pretty obvious and now she felt stupid for even bringing it up.

“Oh, no, I’m not seeing anyone right now,” he replied very graciously. Well, at least he didn’t seem upset. 

“Haha, well, me neither!” Ok, now she had just made it weird again. 

“Oh, that’s… that’s ok.” Now it was  _ his _ turn to kick himself for making it awkward. 

Both of them thoroughly embarrassed, they mutually decided to keep silent as they shuffled in and out of the aisles, keeping a lookout for any tables that seemed to house food. Instead, they turned the corner of the rightmost hall and bumped right into the bride herself.

“Launch!” Bulma rushed to give her a hug, and Launch vivaciously patted her friend’s back. “I wondered where you went after the ceremony.  I saw you try to sneak in late!” 

“Haha, sorry about that! It’s a lot harder to ride a motorcycle while carrying a dress than you would think!” 

Rolling her eyes while grinning, Bulma said, “Uh, yeah!”

“But look at you! Eyy, you’re married now!” 

“I still can’t believe it,” she said while holding her hands up in celebration. Suddenly taking notice of who was standing behind her friend, she turned to Tien and smiled.

“And you must be Tien, right?” 

“Yes. Hello and congratulations.” Giving a short wave and nod, he politely kept his distance.

Launch was slightly amused. “ _ Aww, no handshake? _ ” she thought. “ _ Guess he learned that lesson. _ ”

“Are you two having fun sitting together? I knew you both would hit it off!” Was that a gleam of amusement in Bulma’s eye? 

“Yeah, it’s been good!” Launch tried to keep the awkwardness she felt out of her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tien nod and smile quietly. 

“Alright, well, don’t have too much fun now,” Bulma said, giggling. “I’m joking, I’m joking! Man, your faces.” Shaking her head and waving lightly, she kept walking past and out into the main hallway, where both Tien and Launch could hear a loud and joyous roar from the surrounding crowd once they saw her. Neither of them made any move to turn around and follow her. 

“Well, uh, do you want to keep looking for the food table?” She switched the subject as fast as anyone could.

“Sure.” He had already turned back in preparation to walk away. Damn, she had hoped to catch a glimpse of his face- wait, what for? Shut up, brain! She gave her head a quick shake.

It took almost ten more minutes of walking around before they finally were able to find the gold and white catering tables filled to the brim with all varieties of meat, vegetables, and insanely well-decorated desserts. It was packed! People were pushing up on all sides, shouting over one another, and the mini-tarts were getting picked over fast. Mostly by Goku, who had taken to hovering around the tables and eating as he walked, which seemed to infuriate the dark-haired woman standing next to him in line. She just kept staring at him and shaking her head every couple seconds. It was freaking hilarious from Launch’s point of view. 

“This was a nice night, though,” she heard softly behind her through the noise. 

Thinking she had misheard, she didn’t reply right away. Holding her breath, she tried not to let the happiness she felt show on her face. 


	2. Office AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: “I’m the receptionist for a reasonably big agency and part of my job is to set the TV behind the desk to the news every morning, but every time I get up to go to the bathroom, someone changes the channel to that yule log thing. You work near my desk which is why I initially suspected you but then it happened while you were in a meeting. I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re gonna help me figure it out."

The phone buzzed angrily. “Hello. Kame Publishing, who’s speaking?” 

He shifted the receiver to his left shoulder and jaw so he could tidily write the message down in all caps on the notepad in front of him. Every day since late November, there had been at least twenty calls a day checking whether various books and short stories were being printed and distributed on time for the holiday season. He had switched from using sticky notes to a large index card so that Goku wouldn’t have to try to organize the messages and potentially lose one to the floor every time he went to hand them over. Not that Goku was unduly concerned about getting any kind of organizational bookkeeping done. Everyone was waiting until the last minute, as usual. 

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to follow up on that, and I’ll call you back sometime this week. Good day.” 

Pointedly trying not the slam the receiver down, he turned around in his chair and clenched his teeth. Even though it was literally the least of his worries right now, the fact that the waiting room television had been changing every time he left his desk was frustrating. He got it: the building was freezing because the new manager didn’t want to pay for decent heating, the weather had been unrelenting this year and snow made for a horrible drive, and people were, for lack of a better term, fatigued by the ever-increasing amount of events and meetings to take care of this month. You would think people were mature enough to fix the root of the problem rather than try to cause trouble for others. 

With a quick jab at the numbers on the remote, he had it back to the news channel it was originally on. Why a yule log? Why always a yule log? Well, besides the obvious.

He did have a few suspicions, although he was hesitant to act on them out of fear that he would embarrass himself if he was wrong. The blonde woman whose name he couldn’t recall, who was recently hired for that entry-level content specialist position, was the only one who had access and time, considering she sat directly in his sight and could easily tell when he got up to hand over his messages. It just made him wonder why she was so determined. You would think about three or four times a day was enough for someone to blow off steam, but even late in the day, the television would be switched. Constantly. 

Maybe it was time for an experiment of his own.

Gathering up the notecards and papers he had to deliver and throwing a parting glance at her, he meaningfully jostled his desk chair as he walked to the main office, so that there was no doubt she would notice that he was leaving. She wasn’t even editing anything, just sitting there staring off into space. He could clearly see the paused Armor Games logo on her screen. No subtlety. 

Giving a quick knock, Tien pushed the door open. Goku was staring sleepily at the white light shining from his screen. One hand was double clicking every other second and the other hand was holding his slumping face, which wasn’t even trying to hide his boredom.

“Ah, Tien!” He noticed the papers in his hand. “Here, lemme have those.” 

Taking them from Tien’s hands, Goku lightly tossed the stack to the ground next to another rubber-banded pile. Out of the corner of his eye, Tien could see the same game that the blonde woman was playing paused on his boss’s screen. Really? 

“Oh yeah, me and Launch are havin’ a competition to see who can get the highest score in the driving game!” Goku had followed his eyeline and was now smiling at him from his position on the other side of the desk. Putting his finger up in the classic “shh” pose, he said, “I’m winning, but only by a little, heh! If someone asks, just say...” He paused for a moment. “Well, actually, just tell them the truth.”

Nodding once, Tien decided to just leave the conversation as it was.  _ Launch. _ At least he knew her name now. Gently closing the door behind him, his attention returned once more to the television screen. From this far away, he could tell it was on the yule log. Again. 

The woman, Launch, was still doing her best to steer the monster truck along the dirt path on the screen. Her left hand’s thumbnail was dangerously close to being broken from his viewpoint, considering how viciously she was biting down on it. She didn’t even have her flats on underneath her desk, preferring to jiggle her legs energetically with her eyes locked on the screen.

“Damn!” he heard her hiss, slapping her desk fast as a flash. From the next desk over, Yamcha snickered. 

“How close were you?” He kept his eyes on his own computer, hitting the spacebar sporadically. 

“I was literally three extra jumps away from you and only five away from Goku!” She leaned back in her chair and stretched her back while squeezing her eyes closed. “Aghhh… stupid boulder.” 

“Yeah, that’ll get you. Maybe you should try playing with the keyboard instead of the mouse.”

“Hmm, nah. I tried it once before you started playing and I dunno, I just think it’s easier to move when you-”

Tien cleared his throat. 

Both of their eyes whipped around towards him, although he could tell that Yamcha was still half-focusing on the game, considering his attempts to hit the spacebar weren’t exactly silent.

“Have either of you noticed the television lately?” He had reached his limit.

“I- no?” Yamcha finally pushed the keyboard away, giving his full attention to the conversation. “Aww, it looks nice!” 

“Yeah, lookin’ very festive!” Launch chimed in with a smile.

“It should be on the news. Do either of you two know anything about why it keeps getting changed to a yule log?” 

He was surprised to see two blank faces looking back at him.

Yamcha spoke up first. “Oh, I thought it was supposed to be on the yule log?” 

“Yeah, I was confused about why you kept changing it to the news!” Launch added.

Fighting the urge to rub his temple, Tien shook his head. “It’s alright. Just forget it.”

He started to walk back to his desk, but paused. 

“Wait… did either of you happen to catch who kept changing the screen?”

The two of them glanced at each other and looked back at him. Two sets of shoulders rose and fell with an air of confusion. 

“Well, if you do see someone change it, please tell me.” 

“You got it, dude!” Turning back to his computer, Yamcha gave a quick thumbs up while Launch nodded. Tien made his way back to the desk, flicking the remote’s channel button and standing with a sigh in front of the filing cabinet in the corner of the room, finally feeling more like working. 

As soon as Tien was out of earshot, Launch got up to stretch her legs. While up, she casually ambled over towards Yamcha’s chair. Bending slightly while staring at the snow drifting down outside the window opposite his desk, she muttered, “I can’t believe he bought that. Do you want to be the one to change it next time he gets up?” 


	3. Regular Human Family AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: “A is always up late with work related things, and one night A falls asleep and B and C have to fumble through getting the work done for them.”

“Come here,” she stage-whispered from across the hallway, peeking out from the door. 

Chiaotzu mouthed, “Me?” and pointed at himself. Launch rarely needed to ask for help, and it usually wasn’t asked from him when she did admit to needing it. 

Still standing in the doorway, she nodded and signaled that he should get closer by waving her hands. It was late enough at night that the only light coming from outside his room was the moon and the light from the bedroom opposite the hall. How late was it, even? He had gotten up to get a drink of water and ended up sitting at the table downstairs for a while. It usually took a while to calm down from nightmares. 

Tiptoeing down the hall, he slid into the room where she stood. Oh, it was Tien! Slumped against the wooden desk in the corner with only the small white desk light to keep him company, he sat surrounded by two piles of paper, along with folders and looseleaf papers strewn all around underneath his arms. 

“He’s asleep,” she pointed exaggeratedly, trying her best not to smirk. I guess she didn’t need his help after all. But this was still pretty funny! Chiaotzu smiled back at her.

Shifting her weight onto her right leg, she bent over and smoothly tugged the uppermost paper from under Tien’s arm. Flipping it over and back again, her face darkened with confusion. 

“What?” Chiaotzu walked closer, careful not to step on any of the floorboards that made that annoying squeaking sound. This house was older than the forest growing around it, it seemed.

“I don’t know. Just a form thing. Some accounting shi- uh, stuff.” 

She glanced back at the desk, keeping her eyes on the titles at the top of the forms. “A lot of them, too.” 

“Oh.” Chiaotzu stood in place, not sure what else to say.

Keeping her eyes on the papers, she continued to mouth the words as she read them. Her eyebrows shot up when she neared the end of the page. Straightening her back, she whipped around and stared right at Chiaotzu.  

“These are all due  _ tomorrow _ .”

“Tomorrow?” he whispered back. There was no way Tien would be able to get the unfinished pile done, especially considering it was likely already the next day. Well, technically. He usually stayed up late and got up early, but… it felt wrong waking him up. Launch must have felt the same way, because her face continued to grow more apprehensive as she thumbed through the pile. 

“Should… should we…” He wasn’t sure whether this idea was stupid or not. 

“What?” She had one hand on the remaining pile and one nervously scratching her curls. 

“Finish them for him?” Well, it was worth a try. She looked at him for a second, and then looked back at the pile on the left side of the desk. 

“We can try.” Glancing once more at Tien’s unresponsive face resting against the desk, she ever-so-carefully lifted his arm up just enough to grasp the corners of the papers underneath. One by one, she pulled the forms out and handed them as quietly as she could to Chiaotzu, who was now standing close by. After a quick motion to leave the room, the two sat cross-legged in the hallway, trying to organize whatever they could.

“What’s an accounts receivable?” 

She scratched her chin. “I know it has something to do with where the money goes? You either subtract it or add it.” Bending her head down, Chiaotzu heard a fainter “I dunno...” mumbled under her breath. 

Using a pen she had grabbed from the desk, she furiously scribbled some numbers down in the column on one of the sheets, stopping only to check the numbers on the check next to her. Chiaotzu followed suit, taking a paper from the top of the pile and placing it in front of him, along with a pencil he had managed to find. Ok, this shouldn’t be so bad! It was just like those multiplication tables. But with more names and titles. And… matching some stuff, too? He tried to think back to what Tien had explained to him a few months ago when he had asked exactly what he did all day. All he could remember was that each client got their own form and none of them were to be mixed up. And there was… a general ledger? Hmm.

“Utilities… Wage… Cost of Goods Sold?” he whispered to himself, trying to half-convince himself he knew what he was doing. 

“I think that some of them get subtracted from the main total and some get added. Like, for example-” she reached her arm out and tapped the paper with her pen, “-this number gets put here because they  _ used _ the money, ya know? If they  _ got _ money from a sale, it would be added.” 

Nodding because he had no other clues as to what could be written there, he found the slip of paper with the corresponding name and wrote the numbers in the left column. There! This shouldn’t be too bad.

~

“I just want to know what you two were thinking.” 

Neither of them spoke.

“The- the columns were not even close. I have to get all new forms. I just want to know.” 

Chiaotzu spoke up first. “We just wanted to help!”

Uncrossing her arms, Launch added, “Ya know, I thought mine were fairly close. Are you sure? Did you double check?” 

“I- yes? None of them were right. I mean, Chiaotzu did well on the addition and subtraction parts, but not any of the actual accounts or cash flow statements.” 

Trying not to laugh, she said, “Are you sayin’ I didn’t do well on the addition and subtraction?” 

Suddenly flustered, he replied, “No! I just… was focusing on the good parts of this.” 

“Aww thanks!” Chiaotzu piped up. 

“Let’s just all agree to not do this again? Ok?” Considering he had only had about three hours of sleep before waking up suddenly and seeing them guiltily filling out as many forms as possible, Tien was taking this fairly well, Chiaotzu thought. 

“Sure!” And the two of them never helped him out with any accounting work ever again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea how to end this, so if it's awkward then that's why lol


	4. School Orchestra AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a really specific high school orchestra/band AU, so enjoyment may vary lol. Also I tried switching up the POV mid-story so maybe that works? 
> 
> PROMPT: "The first time you heard me swear was because I couldn’t remember the key this song is in, stop teasing me for this please."

“Again! From the top!”

Roshi’s cries barely could be heard from over the symphony of instruments grinding to a halt in order to hear what was going on. They had been at this after-school practice for an hour and a half already, and nothing much had been changed. The woodwinds were still too fast, the percussion section was still too loud, and the strings section was still too slow. No one had a solid grasp of the flow of the music, and as the day went on, this was becoming more and more apparent.

Tien and Goku both groaned under their breath as they shot glances at each other again. Being a second violin (even though they were first chairs) was already as humiliating as possible, considering sitting in the back squished up next to the tubas’ and clarinets’ sections, unable to hear what the other violins were playing, made it tough to understand what was going on. But even worse than that was the constant chatter of everyone from the band. Being paired up two by two in order to share stands was one thing, but when the orchestra and band were at their giant collaborative after-school practice together, it meant that every spare seat was filled and it was pure chaos. It was tough to even shift your legs too far to the left or right without knocking someone’s precariously placed instrument off their lap.

Tien flipped the sheet music back to the first page, and readied his instrument on his shoulder. Next to him, Launch was leaning over to unwrap (as stealthily as one could when the package was made of plastic) a baked good that she had gotten from the cafeteria. Chichi, her seat partner, shook her head slightly and hastily flipped the clarinet’s version of the Carol of the Bells sheet music over. You technically weren’t supposed to eat on-stage, but Chichi knew well enough to just let her be. She had tried before.

“Do you all want to go to the festival or not?”

A mixed reply from the crowd was enough to set Roshi off on another speech about teamwork, balance, and whatever else was needed in order to participate in the winter festival that the school traveled to yearly. Once a year was enough to make him, frankly, lose his mind and demand perfection from his students in order to not be shown up by a rival school. What was their mascot? Some kind of bird? Tien had almost applied there a few years ago, but at the last minute, decided to just go to the public school in the area instead, and thus he ended up here.

“-and once you all learn how to play this together and in the right key, you’ll be unstoppable! And I can go home and read some magazines I’ve been saving.  Anyway, here we go. From the top in three, two, and….”

Out of the corner of his eye, Tien saw Launch shove the rest of the muffin in her mouth and grab her clarinet in one swoop.

Roshi mouthed “go” and swung his arms as high as his shirt could let them, starting the tempo of the song off slow enough that, mercifully, no one had an issue with the timing. In fact, the Carol of the Bells sounded pretty… decent. The violas and bass section merged beautifully with the sounds of the surrounding clarinets and drums, and the xylophone in the far back added a light frosty touch to the tone of the song.

Everything was going surprisingly well.

Everything except for the second violin section.

Struggling to keep pace with the first violins while playing the supporting melody, the second violins were floundering. Goku was playing a bit too fast, Tien couldn’t tell what flats and sharps were supposed to be played, and the five surrounding stands had issues with cohesiveness resulting from their first chairs’ problems.

This bled out into the rest of the players, as the clarinets started to falter in their rhythm, which made the three string bass players to their right slow down more than what was needed. In the cello section, frustrated to the point of anger, Vegeta snapped his bow away from the bridge and just stopped playing. Glaring through narrowed eyes, he scanned the room for the section that had started it all. By this time, Roshi had noticed the sound difference and waved his hands very pointedly down in order to signal it was time to stop the song.

“Second violins, what’s your issue?” Roshi called out through gritted teeth. A few people in the sections in front of them turned around to look at Tien and Goku out of pure curiosity.

Goku shrugged and kept his eyes on Roshi while Tien looked down.

“Ok, well… just keep pace with my conducting, alright? Don’t forget to look up.” He swiveled his head around and addressed everyone. “This goes for all of you!”

Goku smiled and rolled his eyes as everyone readied their instruments once again. Leaning over, he whispered, “Man, he’s really gettin’ irritated!” to his slightly disconcerted seat partner.

“Absolutely,” Tien whispered back.

“Are you sure you know what accidentals to play? I could hear ya getting a bit off there,” Goku said in a hushed tone.

“I- yeah, I can figure it out.”

“Alright, just checking!”

Tien could see Launch out of the corner of his eye. She was glancing at him, too, but turned away as soon as she saw him looking back at her. Weird. She didn’t seem like the shy type. At the front of the stage, Roshi tapped his baton once and raised his hands. Everyone sat at attention.

At the wave of his hand, the stage lit up with a million different sounds (most of them good!) coming from each section. Finally! It was all coming together.

Tien struggled to hear the rest of the section as he played. The kids sitting behind him were always so quiet, and Goku was more preoccupied with slowing down than playing loudly. Even with his poorly trained ear, he could tell that a lot of the notes he was playing were… not quite there. Were they sharp or flat? It shouldn’t be this hard to tell. The only way to fix this was to subtly experiment and hope for the best. As long as he made sure to pointedly and clearly stop playing whenever the dramatic pauses came up, he could probably make this work by the second time around.

The feeling brought on by progressing in the song was amazing. Roshi rarely let the students continue past the first page without stopping unless they were performing a concert-worthy rendition, and as everyone flipped their sheet music over, the relief was almost palpable. Chichi sat up straighter, and even Launch started to tap her foot in time with the song. And finally, there it was, the finish. Each individual note had a rest between it. Almost there.

_Duh-duh._

Pause.

“ _No, that’s a bit high,_ ” he thought. Shifting his fingers, he tried again the next note.

_Duh-duh-duh._

Pause.

He shifted his fingers far too low.

_Duh-duh._

“Shit!” he snapped, breaking the silence. Everyone’s eyes were on him.

~

Launch wiped the forming tears from her eyes. “It was just so freakin’ funny. I just….” Her head fell back again, and then bobbed forward as she put it in her hands. “I’ve literally never heard him swear before and he just- he just yells that out!”

“You’re right, I hadn’t heard him swear before, either!” Goku giggled, with his hands resting in back of his head. Rocking back a little too far, he had to steady himself with his feet in order to not fall off the plastic chair onto the stage.

“Honestly, you both should calm down,” Chichi’s composed voice rang out from the floor in back of them, along with two small clicks as she closed her instrument case. “He’s probably embarrassed. I mean, he packed up as quickly as he could and practically ran off-stage.”

“It wasn’t super embarrassing. More funny than embarrassing, really,” Launch paused and turned in her seat. “You don’t think he was that embarrassed, do ya?”  

“Well, maybe you should ask him that.” Picking up her folders, Chichi started to walk towards the exit.

“No! I’m not-” Launch tried to yell after her, but she was walking far too fast to hear. Turning to Goku, she reiterated, “I’m not gonna do that.”

“Aww, I don’t think he would mind talkin’ to you!” Goku had started to pack up, too.

“Really? We barely know each other…” Launch mumbled. Scuffing her shoes on the floor, she tried to think back to when they had last talked. In precalculus class that one time? He had been a pretty dependable notetaker whenever someone was out sick, but she could never think of anything to say besides a quick thank you, along with scribbling the notes down as fast as she could. She thought she the same period gym class with him, but the boys and girls got split up, so it was almost impossible to really tell. Plus, she “forgot” her gym clothes a lot, too, which meant she had to sit the class out. So, it really wasn’t like that was a great place to talk. This after-school practice really was the best time to say something.

Maybe she could catch him in the parking lot.

Suddenly determined to say something, she stood up and hurtled over to her case. Slamming her instrument down and stuffing her sheet music in her folder, she ran down the hallway. He had only had a few minutes to get out, so he couldn’t have gone that far!

The wind chill outside was the first thing she noticed as she pushed the giant metal doors open. It was bitterly cold, and the sky was in that weird sundown time when it seemed like it could go dark at any moment. Off in distance across the football field, she thought she could hear crows cawing. There were only a few cars left in the parking lot.

“ _Damn,_ ” she thought. “ _Maybe he had gotten away faster than I hoped._ ”

“Are you looking for something?” a calm voice said behind her.

Turning on her heel, she saw Tien standing under the alcove holding his binder and folders.

“Oh- I was just- well, yeah.” She stumbled over her words, completely taken aback. Why was he still here?

Almost like he read her mind, he said, “I’m just waiting to be picked up. Sorry to startle you.”

“Nah, it’s ok! And listen,” she started to say, keeping one hand casually resting on her backpack strap, “I just, uh, wanted to make sure you weren’t too embarrassed about all that-”

“It’s ok.” He interrupted, with a blink of his eyes. But he looked almost freaked out, like he was in a cross-examination room or something. Was she really that intense?

Lowering her voice just in case, she continued with, “Well, do ya need a ride or are you ok with waiting?” Damn, what a dumb question. Had she not just heard what he had said?

“Oh, it’s ok,” he repeated. They both stood there for a second, not really looking directly at one another.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” she called out, turning on her heel to go back into the band room. Whatever. This was not what she had wanted to do, but her legs were moving on their own, and as her arm slammed the metal door’s push bar, she could only think about how she could never say anything again to him, ever.

~

He stood facing forward until he was sure that she had left. As soon as he didn’t hear the sound of footsteps any longer, he relaxed his shoulders. Out of all the events that had happened today, he did not expect that to be one of them.

“Huh,” he whispered to himself. Maybe she was more shy than he thought.


End file.
